Article by
Barbados Today

Published on
September 11, 2018

Despite being rejected by voters over their handling of the economy, the Democratic Labour Party, without a voice in Parliament for the first since 1956 has delivered its first critique on the tax measures of the Mia Mottley administration.

President of the Democratic Labour Party Verla Depeiza suggested that two of the promises made by the Barbados Labour Party administration in its manifesto and mini-budget – an increase in the Non- Contributory Pension and the introduction of the Solid Waste Tax – will create a slew of problems for Barbadians.

Speaking at the former constituency office of embattled former Member of Parliament for St James South Donville Inniss who is currently facing charges in the US for money laundering, Depeiza raised concern about the mini-budget proposal to seemed to veer away from the policy of parity in increases between the non-contributory and contributory pensions.

“I think that we are all aware of not only the fact of parity through this point, but they have kept them moving and kept the ratio between the two the same. The reason being non-contributory pension as the name suggests paid nothing into the fund and would benefit from someone else’s money that was paid into the fund. So, there was always the tendency to keep them moving along with the sliding rule together and I have learned that that has not happened in this case.”

Depeiza called on the media to back up assertion which she said needed to research herself.

“Now I will go, and research and I hope the media will too. Because my memory suggests that in the mini-budget the two would keep parity and if that has not happened then that is a point for investigative journalism. It is also a point for us as opposition to research and push forward,” she said to members of the DLP executive and party faithful.

Depeiza tackled the issue of the Solid Waste Tax stating that there are a lot of questions to be asked about intended target of its proceeds.

“I will not address anything other than we have off-budget money that belongs to the people of Barbados administered by God knows whom,” she said, adding that when the former administration implemented the Municipal Solid Waste Tax persons knew that the funds collected where being handled by the Accountant General and the Auditor General.

“At least when it was paid into the Consolidated Fund you knew that the Accountant General and the Auditor General would have oversight. Now that it is paid into I would have to say an off-the-books entity and then shared with a second entity, how do we know how those funds are one being managed and two being administered?

Depeiza said the new proposals lacked the “same level of oversight that we would have had if it were paid into the Consolidated Fund. That is the concern that I choose to raise outside of all of the others,” she stressed with applause from the party’s executive and party supporters.

Depeiza argued that the Solid Waste Tax when calculated is far worse than the Municipal Solid Waste Tax that was implemented by the Democratic Labour Party.

“When the last administration instituted a Municipal Solid Waste Tax there was a lot of furor in the country and a push back nationally against it. I do not know what your Solid Waste Tax bill looked like but mine was less than $300. What my water bill looks like this past month and if I extrapolate for a 12-month period I am going to be paying more in this new tax than the Municipal Solid Waste Tax.

“The difference is that the Solid Waste Tax was paid in a lumpsum and this one is being paid over a period of time. But the feeling in the pocket in the pocket is the same. A lumpsum will hurt you one time but then you can recover, or you can recover from it. This bill and these taxes create a whole slew of problems,” she said.

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25 thoughts on “DLP: Taxes ‘a slew of problems’”

Carl harper

“It is also a point for us as opposition to research and push forward,” [Verla Depeiza] said to members of the DLP executive and party faithful.

Verla is suffering from delusions of grandeur. The DLP is no “opposition” and may not be for another 15 years and 90 days, if not longer. Get is straight; your Party is of no more significance in Barbados politics than Eric “Fly” Sealy’s pressure group of the 1970s and 80s. The UPP is more likely to form the next Opposition before the people of Barbados consider returning any of you in the DLP to the House of Assembly.

At this point Ms Depeiza has no moral authority to be commenting on increases given to pensioners. The fact is the DLP gave none during its 10 years of mismanagement. The same pensioners are in a better position today to offset the Garbage and Sewage Contribution because of the BLP’s generous raise on their pensions.

As far as taxes are concern, Ms Depeiza, your DLP government was the agent of excessive taxation and fees not borne in a “lump sum” — consolidation tax, NSRL, VAT increase from 15% to 17.5%, income tax increase, removal of basic 2.5% interest on bank savings, excise tax on gasoline, increase in property tax, $25 fee on poor people’s barrels at the port, dispensing fee on medicines at private pharmacies, tipping fee resulting in more illegal dumping, increase in rum shop license fee, bus fare and water increases, and withholding wage and salary increases from public workers while the cost of living soared.

The problem with the disbanded Municipal Solid Waste Tax was that it was inequitable and onerous. How can those people who live in housing areas and generate the most based on density of population be allowed to escape paying their fair share? The MSWT was a bad tax from its inception; the very reason Chis Sinckler had to abolish it.

On top of all that you guys sent home 3,000 workers and removed “free” UWI tuition from poor people’s children. Nobody had been able to “recover” until Mia Amor Mottley restored the tuition, allowing thousands of bright but poor students to pursue their life’s dreams and be somebody just like you, Ms Depeiza. So stop trying to deceive the elderly at Sunday Branch meetings — the DLP preferred way of communicating with the Barbadian public.

There is no doubt that the DLP — the Party of the poor — will forever be known as the Party that made poor people poorer.

@Carl Harper. The last line in your essay “the party that madë poor people poorer. Just don’t tag the former DLP with that label just yet, wait a few more weeks or months,when the jaws of the IMF are biting, then tag the BLP with that label. The increased taxes that the BLP fat cats have so far imposed on this country, cannot be overlooked and certainly will not be camouflaged by the super public relations campaign the ruling regime has embarked on. Musical chairs before social media and the press, what a show! A well organised and structured game show to fool people.

@Johnny Crow. When you are not responding to one word — “squander” — in my postings, you are commenting on one line — “There is no doubt that the DLP — the Party of the poor — will forever be known as the Party that made poor people poorer.”

Does that mean you are agreeing with or disputing what is said in the other paragraphs?

DePeiza don’t you think that instead of talking to your” YARD FOWLS” at the constituency office of someone who has been ARRESTED AND CHARGE FOR BRIBERY and MONEY LAUNDERING in the UNITED STATES, that at the next sitting of PARLIAMENT you should take along some of your LOSERS including the BIGGEST of DEM all..one IRENE SANDIFORD GARNER of course cause she’s your deputy and sit on the OPPOSITION benches and voice your concerns?
Remember the SAME DONVILLE INNISS said after that mini- budget…”wait until the REAL BUDGET comes in OCTOBER “….maybe he meant his OWN budget….good foresight DON.

@Carl Harper: Just for the record, all political parties that contested the last General election are now opposition parties. Not parliamentary oppositions, but the people’s opposition.

The campaign is over, the election is done, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. You need to be realistic, ‘it’s not all rosy red, there’s much negativity happening against the very existence of the masses quite similar to what occurred under the last government. So it’s time that the faithfuls of the two older parties come to the realization that while the former did some injustices, this current lot are in the process of reproducing similar injustices under different titles. At the end of the day, the people are still being over taxed, disposable income reduced, and no clear mandate for sustainable investment. Until a sustainable investment plan is produced I will have to question the process, because our taxes alone can’t repay our dept, and we are actually borrowing to repay dept. Barbados is being remortgaged by the B L P without any clear plan to create a continuous cash flow apart from the taxes being collected domestically.

So let Verla, and any other member of political parties have their say, listen to them, and extract the positives for your benefit. The B L P is not washed in white, and brings with it no pearly gates menu.

The clown show has started. You and your party were weighed in the balance and found seriously wanting. The mess you left now has to be cleaned up, so you have no moral leg on these matters going forward. The more you talk the more we’re reminded of the suffering your party put us through for the last ten years. Bye!

@Greengiant. Your response is one with which I can have a reasonable discussion.

No one is saying that the road ahead will be a smooth one for the current BLP administration, but you have to admit that they have hit the ground running and already put measures in place to rescue Barbados.

No amount of taxation without external financing could get Barbados out of this economic and fiscal mess. Hence the need to approach the IMF and gain support from other institutions such as the IDB and CDB.

A government has no means of raising revenue other than taxation. Nobody likes to pay taxes and will avoid it if they could. However, people accept that taxes are necessary but they want to know their contribution goes where the finance minister says it is going. If it is to repair roads, then the expectation would be smoother road surfaces and better drainage.

The problem with the last DLP administration is there is nothing to show for the additional $9 billion in debt incurred since 2008 and the slew of taxes imposed on Barbadians.

Investment comes from those who want to spend their money on projects having CONFIDENCE in the jurisdiction. With the success of the IMF program, a return to growth and credit ratings upgrades, these will signal to potential investors that Barbados is once again open for business.

The revamping of the Town Planning Act should make for a smoother and seamless application and approvals process; something investors complained about for years.

Of course Verla can have her say but tell her not to deceive old folks who attend DLP Sunday Branch meetings. Meanwhile Mia will get on with the business of managing the country and returning Barbados to economic sustainability.

This is why you would not win the elections next toss. Did you really sit back and watched what happened on 2008 until??? You should and look at doing better and put a plan in motion and improve and love the children and respect their decisions

When Idi Amin here the neighboring troops was coming toward Kampala he told his army get ready to fight they refused to obey him also he was getting on a plane to Libya…this idiotic woman should shut up because no one is listening to her just like those soldiers did to Amin everyone suffer under the previous DLP. Either she stupid or lack compassion for we the people knowing that her party destroy this country. Also don’t she understand her party probably using her? These things usually happen to women after a bunch of men lose badly at the pole god this massacre will be in history…

I feel someone should tell the boss lady at the DLP to stop talking about the pass and tell us her plans for the future of her group. What are you putting forward to ensure your party going forward will not simply be a mirror of the past? The DLP was handed a defeat like none other, so if you want to rebuild your group, stop looking back at the last 10 years as they were a dismal failure for your party. Every time you link yourself to that period and those persons, you in fact weaken your chance of being seen as a new alternative. You also need to stop criticising every decision the government makes as you are NOT the opposition, simply another pressure group trying to be heard. Talk to us about your alternatives,your ideas for the future etc and then you will be on better ground in terms of being seen as a voice worth listening to. Linking yourself to the DLP’S past ten years and its ministers during that period, is therefore a recipe for disaster going forward for your group.

She should keep her mouth close her party put up tax about 200 and her party mske barbados get 24 down grade what say you woman the could not get one cent to barrow from no where but the blp will get back barbados so to all dlp go and hybernate for 30 years please you make barbados lost 10 years
30sip take that

“A government has no means of raising revenue other than taxation. ” – This is my problem right here. The new tax measures are hurting me more than any of the tax measure instituted by the DLP. Has the BLP even reasonably increased taxes or first aim is to satisfy the manifesto?

The DLP didn’t do a good job but at the end of the day it’s the effect on my bottom line that counts for me. So I won’t be happily joining the “let’s walk together” nonsense.

I can’t with this party,y’all too much..
Can you guys just go away,the people of Barbados have spoken,now let Mia and her government handle the business of Barbados. Oh yeah,that entails seeing about the welfare of the country and its citizens,not gonna say it again,BE QUIET,BE GONE,& STAY GONE

Ric what kind of J/A are you?Do you understand,the reason,why the taxes,have to be implemented?Let me clarify for you the blatant mismanagement by the try a thing Government you obviously support who caused 23 downgrades and then refuse to go to the IMF because they did not want to lose popularity,but guess what they still lost.Therefore Ms motley now has to revive the economy,and if that means increasing taxes we all will have to bear for now,capiche.Anything is better than the last Government,therefore if you wish you can join them on the political dumpheap.